.mobi and the retail industry

Telephia, the leading provider of performance measurement information to the mobile industry, reports that mobile data usage, such as text and multimedia messaging, mobile Web, and downloads, has reached the 50 percent adoption mark in Q4 2005, rising seven percentage points since the beginning of the year.

Twenty-two percent of all cell phone users paid for accessing the Web via their wireless device during the last quarter of 2005, while MMS activity posted a penetration rate of 13 percent, rising five percentage points since Q1 2005. In addition, 11 percent of wireless consumers downloaded content from their cell phones, gaining three percentage points since the beginning of the year.

Signaling the growing use of wireless devices to connect to the Internet, the mobile industry started registering dot.mobi domain names on Monday (May 22 2006) in an attempt to create a domain to help simplify the oft-cumbersome use of online services. I think .mobi sites would be a huge benefit for retail companies to provide access to customers via cell phones. I think applications like ShopEdge and .mobi sites are a convenient way for users to shop via their cell phones.

dotMobi, the company organizing the registration has already received several thousand registrations from trademark holders including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Vodafone, and Sony. (dotMobi registration begins)

"... Through May 29, companies that are members of mobile organizations like CTIA, GSMA, and MMA, are able to register their trademarked names under the dot.mobi system. Mr. Edwards said he expected between 5,000 and 7,000 registrations over the next week.

In mid-June, trademark holders from other industries can start registering for dot.mobi names, and Mr. Edwards expects that period to bring in “tens of thousands.”

At the beginning of September, the general public can begin bidding on the dot.mobi names, and Mr. Edwards expects millions to participate. “That will be the big push,” he said.

For now the dot.mobi sites cost several hundred dollars to purchase, but when the registration opens to the public it could send off a mobile land grab, similar to the dot-com speculation of the ’90s. ..."